When you are in a contest, it helps to know who your opponent is. It helps to know what their strategy is. Our Christian journey is going to be full of spiritual warfare. God’s Word says we do not battle against other people, we battle evil. We have an enemy but he can be defeated if we understand his tactics and utilize our “secret weapon.”
Many who begin their christian journeys think they will no longer be tempted or attacked. We are still capable of not-so-good acts that we used to do and temptations will not disappear. We need to realize that temptations, and the need to deny my own selfish desires, will always be apart of our daily lives. We all have a tendency to sin. Does this mean there is no hope? Of course it does not!
3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3
This means we can live the way God wants us to live because He WILL help us!
God has given us His nature, the Holy Spirit, to defeat the power of sin. We still have the sinful human nature inside us that we inherited from Adam. It wants to pull us away from God. Thanks to the serpent (satan), who convinced Adam and Eve that God was a liar and did not have their best interests at heart and that he was holding something much better for them. This is the heart of most of our spiritual battles. Satan holds a fruit in front of us like he did Adam and Even and wants us to believe he knows better than God.
The sin they chose to that they were going to fulfill their perceived needs INDEPENDENT OF GOD, rather than trusting Him. Think for a moment about all the sin we commit. Every single act is rebellion and defiance to God. That fruit, Satan did not tell Adam and Eve of the consequences, has dire consequences to our walk with God. Sin separates us from Him. When we sin, we stand before Him and tell Him we know what we need better than Him.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. Romans 12:5
When Adam and Eve sinned, their perfect nature was corrupted and now we are all born with a corrupted nature. We need to understand the strategies of satan who uses our corrupted nature to pull us back into sin. It is in our nature to resist God and he tries to exploit this in us. As we walk closely to God and learn the enemy’s tactics, we will not be surprised when he comes knocking on the door of our hearts and depend less on ourselves and more on God.
Satan’s strategy does not change. It does not need to change because it is so effective. He twists the Word of God by convincing us “you can be filled, content, and happy without God.” He gets us to believe his lies that “you can not trust God to do what is best for you.”
To combat our old nature, God has given us a new nature, His nature, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is more powerful and frees us from the power of our old nature. We need to know God intimately. This means to experience His characteristics and to walk with Him. From the time we are born until we receive Christ as our Savior, we get focused on our bad behavior. We need to let God change our focus from behavior to what is inward. To allow Him to transform our inward because naturally, our behavior will follow.
It is easy to suggest the idea that my sinful nature is different or worse than others. But the truth is, we all have the same corrupted nature. Do not let satan convince you, that you are so bad there is hope. Many give up because they try to transform themselves. They get frustrated when the same old desires and sin stays with them. The truth is we can not transform ourselves, but God can.
6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law. Romans 7:6
Take time with God today to surrender to Him.
Part 1: Dos and Don’ts or Spiritual Transformation?
Part 2: Knowing God
Part 3: What Hinders Transformation?
Part 4: Temptations
Part 5: Can I trust God?
Part 6: Transformation
It Starts Small 
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